Line + form, Drawing in Clay

There is very little that is quite as satisfying for me as pulling a line through supple clay. It’s drawing and sculpture all in one.

The header photo shows a french bulldog’s nose cut from porcelain. To express the nature of this animal, the gesture in each of the pieces is really important. Yes technical perfection matters to a degree but only in service of capturing the personality. The idea is to use very few lines and each one being just the right shape, in fact in designing Rob and I both edit and edit some more to make sure that each line is necessary and has life to it.

Lines that comprise the Quince Tree design below are even less about precision than the dog’s nose and aren’t really about gesture either. Instead it's the movement and layering of the leaves and the spatial depth created with their placement that makes this design come alive and leads the viewer’s eyes around the composition. Glaze (color) of course also works well to define the depth and distance.

Quince design cut in wet clay before the bisque fire

On the other hand Awakening Garden (below) throws many drawing rules out the window on purpose. It’s meant to be a sculptural collage that specifically uses the traditional tools of line, form and space in non-traditional ways to best express the concept of individuals within a collective experience.

@greyhawk and I made this piece in collaboration

The idea is that each of these life forms are waking up after a long period of dormancy. Each has its own individual character and thaws or comes to life in its own way, some with color (flowers), some with movement (leaves) and even the ground moves a little side to side as if each is a mini tectonic plate stretching. Each part is unique but together make up a whole.

Collage is a great tool for making abstract connections and @greyhawk and I wanted to give it a try using clay. Some flowers are completely flat like a 2 dimensional line drawing yet the leaves are curved forms without drawn lines. From a traditional drawing stand point this makes no sense, but this is part of the beauty of collage - putting together things that don’t make sense in terms of the craft yet work conceptually.

With every mosaic, glaze painting, and even every pot I make, line and form are considered. The relationship of these two artistic elements and how they work to express an idea is always in the forefront of my consciousness regardless of what I make.

Thank you for your generous support of my blog, art work and life as an artist, it makes all the difference! Stay tuned for more process posts on the Hawaiian Landscape Pool house Mosaic and more.

Sndbox Steward